textproduct: Amarillo

KEY MESSAGES

Issued at 954 PM CDT Wed Apr 29 2026

- Rain chances remain for today into Friday. Although, for today precipitation will be very light and sparse. Better chances exist tonight into Friday mainly for the western combined Panhandles and southern TX Panhandle.

- Cooler temperatures in the 50s to 60s are expected today with 40s and 50s expected Friday.

- Looking at a frost potential for the west to northwestern combined Panhandles for Saturday morning.

UPDATE

Issued at 833 AM CDT Thu Apr 30 2026

Widespread cloud cover is in place across the Panhandles today and the clouds will keep temperatures on the cooler side. Highs this afternoon should only rise up into the upper 50s to mid 60s due to a cooler air mass in place. There is a lack of forcing to generate showers over the Panhandles today, which is leading to less and less rain totals. Have updated the forecast to reduce rain chances through this afternoon based on the latest model trends, which resulted in having a 25 percent chance for rain or less. Odds are most locations will see no rain throughout the day. The rest of the forecast remains on track at this time.

Muscha

SHORT TERM

(Tonight through Friday night) Issued at 954 PM CDT Wed Apr 29 2026

A broad upper level trough can be seen on satellite expanding from the Northern Great Plains through the Upper Midwest into Northeast. Out west is shortwave trough axis running from CA to MT. Out in the Pacific Ocean off the southwest coast of CA is a cutoff low. Upper level troughing is expected to continue to evolve over the next couple of days. Although some models are suggesting rain starting as early as sunrise today, the combined Panhandles are likely to see little to no rain until late tonight into Friday morning when better lift and moisture enter the area. It will take this cutoff low coming on land and merging back with the trough out west to bring better lift and moisture for precipitation. Confidence in thunder is very low at this time but can't rule out a few rumbles of thunder, especially in the southern TX Panhandle. For now skies remain clear over the combined Panhandles as of this writing, with a stream of moisture/clouds extending from southern AZ/NM into West Texas, mainly impacting Lubbock to Midland area at this time.

Clouds will gradually increase through the day today as the aforementioned upper level lows evolve, and start to impact more of the combined Panhandles. Thanks to surface winds continuing out of the east (upsloping) and less sunlight expected this afternoon, temperatures should be noticeably cooler. Afternoon highs are progged to be in the upper 50s to northwest to lower 60s to the central and southeastern Panhandles. Tomorrow, with the increasing rain activity and continued cloud cover and lowering H5 heights temperatures are expected to be even cooler for Friday. Afternoon temperatures are looking to be well below normal in the lower 50s to the west and upper 50s to the east. By Friday evening rain activity is expected to wane and the sky is progged to begin clearing in the overnight hours. This clearing along with winds dropping off will help with temperatures dropping to near freezing in the northwestern combined Panhandles going into Saturday morning. Some lower Tds in the lower to mid 30s are looking to move into the northwest and radiational cooling will drive a drop off in temperatures.

LONG TERM

(Saturday through next Wednesday) Issued at 954 PM CDT Wed Apr 29 2026

Upper level ridging returns Saturday with temperatures on the rebound. Very little PoPs exist in the long term. But may see some slight chance PoPs in the northern combined Panhandles if some perturbations in the ridge occur. Saturday afternoon temperatures reach back to the upper 60s to lower 70s, and as the ridge builds in more afternoon temperatures are expected to reach the upper 70s to lower 80s for Sunday. Those 80s may last into Tuesday before a potential front on Wed knocks temperatures back down a bit.

AVIATION

(12Z TAFS) Issued at 638 AM CDT Thu Apr 30 2026

Overall, VFR conditions to start, but will gradually drop to MVFR in the 21-00z time frame. While confidence is not high that we will go IFR given the continued track of the weather system further south, KAMA seems to be the most likely site to have IFR conditions as that is still where the best chances for rain to occur will be. Winds will be in the 10-15kt range mainly out of the east.

Weber

AMA WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

TX...None. OK...None.